downtown Chattanooga restaurants Archives - Page 10 of 20

1885 Grill (Chattanooga/St. Elmo)

September 8, 2013

1885 Grill is a great restaurant in the St. Elmo area of Chattanooga with fantastic food and a heart for the community of Downtown Chattanooga.

I have been wanting to try 1885 Grill really badly ever since it opened in June. I have no idea why it took me three months to get down there. We considered going for my birthday a few weeks ago, but since the original plan was to go to Elemental, we stuck with that. Anyway, 1885 is connected to Tremont Tavern (in Chattavore’s opinion, the spot for Chattanooga’s best burger) by a common co-owner and is located in the former Blacksmith’s Bistro location in St. Elmo, next door to the former location of Pasha Coffee and Tea. They have done quite a good business since opening, and I had heard that they are almost always busy-no doubt in part due to the fact that they are only open for dinner through the week (open for lunch and dinner on Saturday and lunch only on Sunday), but surely also due to some great food, I was confident. While I read some mixed reviews of 1885 Grill on Urbanspoon (their overall rating is 87%, though), I had heard nothing but good things from friends and family members who had already eaten there.

We got to 1885 Grill at around 2 p.m. and the place was still pretty crowded-the lunch crowd had not yet thinned out. We were seated at one of the last available tables on the patio. It was a nice day to sit outside-not too hot-but we weren’t really thinking about the fact that, of course, the patio is the smoking section. That was our one “issue”, if you could call it that, but then that’s our own fault, isn’t it? I did go inside to use the restroom but didn’t really pay much attention to the decor. The inside dining area was fairly dimly lit with very simple, clean decor but that’s about as much as I noticed.

Our server, Victoria, quickly came to our table and brought water glasses and a bottle of water that she left on the table. She ran down the specials (a fish special, the name of which I can’t remember, and an eggplant sandwich) and strongly suggested the pimento cheese appetizer, which, of course, we had already decided to order (we did consider ordering the empanadas instead, but this is Chattavore and if there is pimento cheese to be had, well, pimento cheese must be had). Apparently this is far and away their most popular appetizer, and I can see why…though I think it may have more to do with the fried okra served alongside the pimento cheese than the spread itself. The okra is cut lengthwise and has more of a cornmeal batter than a cornmeal breading. It is cooked very well-not slimy at all, as okra tends to be-and I would call it the best restaurant fried okra I’ve ever had. It’s so very, very difficult to find a restaurant that serves housemade (not frozen) fried okra, and I get tired of being served okra in a breading jacket. Now, I don’t mean at all to imply that I didn’t like the pimento cheese-I liked it a lot. Like me, they use a cream cheese base, with big chunks of pimento and a grated white cheddar. They also use smoked paprika and minced jalapeño to add another element of flavor-but don’t worry, it’s just a little spicy. Wimpy tastebuds like mine can handle it!

My brother had told me that the pork chop (glazed with Red Delicious apples and a choice of two sides) was excellent and I thought hard about ordering it, but in the end the Country Cuban sandwich won. I posted a Cuban sandwich in the very early days of my blog (if you look at that post, please excuse the photography! Philip has encouraged me to leave old photos so I can remember where I came from.) and I love a good Cuban. The “Country Cuban” is a grilled sandwich, served on sliced Niedlov’s Cuban bread, with sliced roast pork, country ham, white cheddar, thinly sliced dill pickles, grainy mustard, and housemade chips (squeal!) on the side. The sandwich was very large and packed with ingredients. It was grilled but not greasy with a good balance of ingredients. I loved the country ham, though I can’t say that I loved the roast pork. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t “grab” me. I could only eat half of the sandwich and as I’m typing this six hours later I am wondering if I should eat something even though I’m not really hungry so I won’t be starving at bedtime. The chips were amazing. Let me say that again. The chips were amazing. You guys know how I feel about housemade chips. They were great!

Philip ordered the shrimp and grits, which, if I am not mistaken, are made using the recipe of co-owner Miguel Morales’s mother (as are many of the dishes at the restaurant). They offer a choice of loose grits or grit cakes, and of course Philip ordered grit cakes. He prefers grit cakes 500%. There were three grit cakes but they weren’t huge with a crunchy coating on the outside. There was a good ratio of shrimp to grit cakes and not a ton of sauce-the shrimp and the grits were the star players and the sauce had a supporting role. His verdict was that these were not quite as good as those served at the now-defunct Market Street Tavern (which, coincidentally, was also co-owned by Tremont Tavern and 1885’s Dustin) but better than those at FoodWorks (his other favorite) which he said has a lot of very rich sauce that, while it tastes really good, leaves him feeling a little icky after. He did think that the addition of some sort of ham (like the Tasso ham used at FoodWorks) would have kicked it up a notch…but congratulations, 1885 Grill. According to my husband, your shrimp and grits are now the best in Chattanooga.

We were already sold on 1885 Grill, but the thing that has sealed this place as far as our business goes was not related to the food-at least not as far as the flavors are concerned. While we were eating our appetizer, a lady came and sat down at the empty table next to us. She had three children with her and told us that she didn’t have any money to buy food for them. We don’t generally carry cash and Philip told her that while we didn’t have any money to give her for groceries, we would buy her something to eat and she accepted, so we asked a nearby server for a menu. A few minutes later Miguel brought the menu out to us and Philip explained that we were going to buy them some food, to which Miguel replied, “Don’t worry about that-we’ve got it,” and took the lady’s order. One of the managers also brought them drinks. After the lady left, Philip commented to the manager, Katie, that he was very impressed that they gave her food. Katie told us that she felt like if they have a kitchen full of food, giving food to someone in need is the right thing to do. That, my friends, is taking care of your community. 1885 Grill earned my respect for not only their food but for their kindness.

Our total, pre-tip, was about $32 plus some change. Personally, I am looking forward to trying their pork chop at some point as well as some of their fish dishes, which I have also heard are excellent (again from my brother, who typically doesn’t even like fish).

I highly recommend that you give 1885 Grill your support. Good people like that deserve our business.

1885 Grill is located at 3914 St. Elmo Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37409. You can call them at 423-485-3050. Their hours are Monday-Wednesday 4 p.m. – 10 p.m., Thursday – Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The parking behind the building is very limited but there is overflow parking across the street. There are “no parking” signs in the spaces but we talked to Victoria about this and she explained that the businesses across the street are not open when 1885 is open so it works out well. Check out 1885’s website, http://1885grill.com. You can also like them on Facebook: facebook.com/1885Grill and follow them on Twitter: @1885grill.

Blue Orleans-August 31, 2013

September 1, 2013

Blue Orleans is a New Orleans-inspired Creole restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, opened by a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

So, when I wrote about Enzo’s Market a few weeks ago I believe that I mentioned that we were actually planning to try Blue Orleans but they are not open for lunch. They open at 4:00 p.m., so we decided yesterday to head there again with our friend Rachel for an early dinner. We got there about 4:30 and were the first patrons in the restaurant, so we were of course seated immediately.

Blue Orleans is a New Orleans-inspired Creole restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, opened by a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The walls are brick, the floors hardwood, and the tables shiny wood. The restaurant is decorated with fleur de lis and some Saints gear, but nothing gaudy (which is what you often find in Creole/Cajun restaurants). It’s a nice, tastefully decorated place, smaller than we imagined based on the outside.

Our server, who was lovely (and I believe my have been one of the owners), took our drink order. They serve 20-ounce bottled Coke products for $2.00 each (this is the second place we’ve been in the last month that serves bottled drinks-unusual indeed), unsweetened tea, beer, wine, and of course water. Philip and I ordered water and Rachel decided on unsweetened tea. One thing I can say is that they kept our drinks full to the top! Our server and another very, very friendly lady came around frequently to refill our glasses. Philip tried to talk us into some gator bits but Rachel and I weren’t convinced….plus at $9 they were a little steep. That was one issue that I had-the menu items were priced pretty high, with the least expensive entrée being a $12 po’boy and they quickly went up from there.

I decided on the shrimp po’boy, “dressed” (remoulade, lettuce, tomato, and pickle). The sandwich was huge, served on a large portion of French bread with breaded fried shrimp, shredded iceberg lettuce, and pickle chips. The shrimp were large and well-cooked, not chewy or gummy. The remoulade lent a bit of spiciness but was not overly spicy. The sandwich was a little “bready” and I ended up pulling a lot of the excess bread off, but it was still pretty good. I ordered Cajun fries with it; the fries were obviously from frozen, but I appreciated that they were not overly doused with Cajun spices like some that I’ve had…just enough to give them a mild spice.

Philip went way authentic (that’s sarcasm) and got a black and blue Orleans burger, which is topped with bacon and blue cheese and dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise. This was really one of the largest burgers I’ve ever seen…it looked like one of those truck stop burgers that if you eat the whole thing they put your picture on the wall (by the way, Philip would have gotten his picture on the wall). The burger took up almost the whole bun, though, like me, Philip did pull a bit of the bread off. I wouldn’t call the burger itself a masterpiece…I don’t think there was anything “special” about the meat, but Philip did really like the combination of bacon and blue cheese with the other toppings. Philip got regular fries, which were just the same frozen shoestring fries that I had but just salted, not seasoned-nothing special but not bad either.

Rachel decided on the shrimpalaya-spiced cajun rice with sliced andouille sausage and seasoned sautéed shrimp. It was a pretty generous portion. Like my shrimp, Rachel’s shrimp was well-cooked, not chewy or gummy. The sausage was mildly spicy but not overwhelming. I tasted the rice and found it to also be well-cooked, not mushy or sticky and also not hard or crunchy, and it was spicy without being overwhelming (by the way, I need to get my aunt’s recipe for jambalaya to share with you guys!).

We decided to get some beignets to share for dessert. I love beignets, but, believe it or not, I’ve never made them from scratch. I really should soon. They are yeast-raised and most of the recipes that I’ve found for them contain evaporated milk, which is not an ingredient I generally keep on hand. I used to buy boxes of Café du Monde beignet mix at the grocery store and make them from that….not from scratch but still pretty delicious. Anyway, our server made sure that we were okay with waiting 10-15 minutes for the beignets to be prepared (we were) then brought out dessert plates for us. Beignets are basically yeast doughnuts without a hole. Strips of dough are fried till brown, during which time they puff up, and then they are generously doused with powdered sugar. These were very tasty-yeasty and a good sweet tooth solution without being tooth-achingly sweet.

So my verdict on Blue Orleans? Well, I am going to qualify this by saying that I have basically no experience with Cajun or Creole food. I’ve never been to New Orleans and the only “Cajun” restaurant where I’ve ever eaten before was Meo Mio’s. I’ve made “Cajun” recipes before or ordered “Cajun-seasoned” foods at restaurants. I am no expert. This food was definitely better than what we had at Meo Mio’s, but I have no idea how authentic it was. It was pretty good, but was it worth the price? Eh. I probably won’t go there again just based on the price for what we got. I will say that I thought the atmosphere was really nice, and the staff was very nice. I do believe it’s the only Cajun restaurant in town anymore (correct me if I’m wrong), so if you like Cajun food you’ll have to try it yourself to decide on the authenticity. Have you tried it? What are your thoughts (be nice/constructive and remember my comments policy!)?

Blue Orleans is located at 1463 Market Street (on the corner of Market and Main), Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-757-0088. You can find more information, including the Blue Orleans menu, at the Blue Orleans website. They are open Monday-Wednesday, 4-9 p.m.; Thursday 11-2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m., Friday 11-2 p.m. and 4-10 p.m., and Saturday, 4-10 p.m. (closed Sunday).

Elemental-August 17, 2013

August 18, 2013

Elemental, now closed, was a restaurant on Chattanooga’s North Shore near Whole Foods. Their former chef Charlie Loomis has now gone on to open FEED Co. Table & Tavern.

Okay, let me tell you guys a story. It is completely unrelated to this post…but it needs to be told. It’s Saturday night as I type this. This afternoon, after spending a couple of hours reading about coding, I installed some ad codes in the HTML of my blog. The first one looked a little wonky but it showed up and worked, just needed some tweaking. So I install the second one, hit save…and boom. My blog = gone. Panic! Panic! Luckily in my research earlier in the day I had been poking around my server so I went into my server files and was able to fix the problem. Good grief.

Okay…moving right along. Today (Saturday) was my birthday! I am now firmly in my “mid-thirties”. Right in the middle to be exact. On our anniversary last month, we went to Easy Bistro but decided to go to Elemental for my birthday. I started waffling a little bit this morning because I had really wanted to try 1885 for a while too but in the end we decided to go to Elemental since we’d been planning that. Hopefully we’ll get to 1885 soon because I’ve heard lots of great things about it!

Anyway, there were not a ton of people in the restaurant when we got there at about 1:00. We were quickly seated by Josh, who turned out to also be our server. Since we had never been there before, he explained the mission of Elemental-to use as many local products as possible-and told us about the list of local farmers and producers on the back of the menu, then brought us water and left us to peruse the menu for a few minutes.

The first thing that struck me about Elemental was the atmosphere…very casual and rustic (I hate to use that word, but it really does fit here) but in a polished way. A Ford tractor adorns the center of the restaurant. There’s lots of wood, beautiful wood tables with succulents in a tiny Mason jar in the center of each. Track lighting illuminates the restaurant and small glass pendant lights with Edison bulbs hang over some of the tables, including ours, where we sat at a hightop table perched on wooden swivel stools as I admired the large metal letters spelling “Elemental” on the gigantic oven hood over the open kitchen. Swoon.

As I mentioned above, the back of the menu offers a list-a very long list-of local producers and farmers from which Elemental procures their goods. Chef Charlie Loomis, who moved here from Asheville to work as the head chef at Greenlife, strives to find goods as close to home as possible. If they cannot be bought locally, he will move to regional producers. This was definitely one of the most impressive lists of local sources that I have seen in my two and a half years blogging about Chattanooga restaurants.

So…food. I really, really wanted to try the boiled peanut hummus, served with marinated olives and housemade crackers. House.Made.Crackers. I had heard that it was amazing. Unfortunately, they were out. Josh suggested a flatbread as a consolation prize, so we decided on a chicken flatbread with basil pesto, marinated tomatoes, and housemade mozzarella. Delicious indeed, with a chewy crust, puffy and blackened in spots but thin and crispy for the most part. The mozzarella was perfect, creamy, just a hint of salt, and chewy, and the red and yellow tomatoes had that amazing ripeness that can only be found in July and August.

The special of the day was a BBQ burger, complete with a fried egg, and I would have ordered that if it hadn’t been for my mom’s promise of grilled burgers for Sunday dinner. I briefly weighed the roasted vegetable sandwich with pimento cheese and aioli against the BLT with Benton’s bacon (!), thick-sliced tomato, iceberg lettuce, basil aioli, and pimento cheese. Chances are that if you are a regular reader you already know which item I chose. Yes, my friends, Benton’s bacon won out. The sandwich was served on a shiny Niedlov’s bun dusted with sesame seeds, and my goodness…they did not skimp on the bacon-that was quite a stack, and Benton’s bacon, well, it’s just some of the best I’ve ever tasted. The tomato was ripe, juicy, and indeed very thickly sliced, then salted and peppered. There wasn’t a ton of pimento cheese under the tomato…just enough to lend the flavor. It was the best restaurant pimento cheese I’ve ever had-made with housemade aioli and Sweetwater Valley cheese, and it was the only pimento cheese that I’ve ever thought was as good as my own. Sorry, I happen to think very highly of my pimento cheese recipe! Iceberg lettuce may seem passé, but the crunch is unrivaled in the lettuce world (ha!) and really, isn’t that the purpose of the L in the BLT? The basil aioli was the final complement, lending just a little bit of herby bite and the bottom of the sandwich. I decided to have the split red potatoes, quite simply just roasted red potatoes with housemade rosemary aoili on the side. Simple and delicious-and I can’t believe I’ve never thought of serving my roasted potatoes with aioli. I think I’ll start!

Philip pretty much immediately decided on the Cloudcrest Farm pulled pork sandwich with a mixed green salad (by the way, the other sides were sweet potato wedges and cooked seasonal greens). The salad included a variety of spicy greens and a few thin beet strips as well as a light vinaigrette. The pulled pork was served on a Niedlov’s bun with a very flavorful, slightly spicy sauce and a lightly mayo-dressed coleslaw that also included beets. The pork was definitely the star of the show, cooked to falling apart tenderness and tasting so….porky. That may sound weird, but the thing about most pork these days is that they are bred to be so lean that they don’t really taste like pork. Local producers tend to use heirloom breeds that have more fat, hence more flavor. The pork at Elemental…doesn’t. Taste. Like. Chicken. This sandwich was perfect.

Unfortunately, I was so full after this meal that I couldn’t even think about dessert. I would have loved to check out the Ollie Pops, which are brown cow-esque confections made by Milk & Honey-vanilla gelato coated in chocolate-or one of Chef Loomis’s own creations. I look forward to going back for dinner and hopefully saving room for dessert this time…though I have heard from more than one person that trying the Sunday brunch is a necessity. We were able to spend a few minutes talking to the chef before we left and he reiterated the importance of elevating the menu by offering simple food from local purveyors. The quality of the food makes his job much easier-when it starts that fresh and amazing, you don’t have to do much to it before you serve it to guests. (***Note: in late August/early September Chef Loomis and Elemental parted ways. Chef Loomis has since moved on to 1885 Grill and Elemental has changed their menu but vowed to continue their mission of serving fresh, local, high-quality food.)

Our total for lunch before tip was about $26…not too bad for a locally-produced, upscale lunch in a beautiful atmosphere. I have to be honest, I’d read mixed review on Urbanspoon…but it appears that most of those were from the earliest days after Elemental’s opening, and I didn’t experience any of the downsides that were mentioned in those reviews. As always, I would encourage you to go and check it out for yourself…I don’t think you’ll be sorry (I wasn’t!).

Elemental is located at 313 Manufacturer’s Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. They are open Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. `You can call them at 423-648-9160. Check out their website, elementalrestaurant.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Saturday in the Park: Muenster Truck, Chattanooga Brewing Company, and Ice Cream Show

July 21, 2013

How many of you are singing the Chicago song with me now? If you don’t know that song, you are obviously younger than me and let’s never speak of that again. Anyway, it was the twentieth of July, not the Fourth, but close enough.

You may have guessed based on the establishments about which I am writing that the park to which I am referring is Coolidge Park. I had an appointment scheduled yesterday afternoon to do a photo shoot, so when Philip saw on Facebook that the Muenster Truck was going to be at Chattanooga Brewing Company, it seemed logical to both of us to head down for some grilled cheese action.

You may have walked past Chattanooga Brewing Company many times without really even realizing that it was there. Located next door to N2 Shoes, Chattanooga Brewing Co. is only open to the public on Fridays from 5-9 p.m. and typically on Saturdays from 1-9 p.m.(well, these are the stated hours on the front page of their website, though I did notice that their event calendar on the website mentions growler hours starting on Sundays at 3 p.m.), though they opened early yesterday to accommodate grilled cheese eaters. The company originally opened in 1890 (later closing in 1915) and was reopened in 2010, microbrewing a variety of brews right their in their tiny space. Their Imperial Pilsner and Hill City IPA are available year-round and other brews rotate. During their “growler hours” (listed above) you can purchase their fantastic small-batch beers by the glass (or smaller samplers of the whole variety) or in growlers (64 oz.). Chattanooga Brewing Company beers are served in many local establishments-check out the list hanging in their window to find out which ones (I wish I’d taken a photo of it)! Pictured below is their Hill City IPA.

When I first heard of the food truck trend, one of the trucks that really piqued my interest was a Los Angeles truck known simply as The Grilled Cheese Truck, serving plain old grilled cheese sandwiches as well as more unusual offerings like a macaroni & cheese and short rib sandwich. Truth be told (and I may have mentioned this here) I once wanted to open a grilled cheese truck in Chattanooga, but I’m definitely not cut out to be a food truck owner so I’m glad someone else undertook the task.

I was super-excited when I heard a few months ago that Chattanooga was soon to get a grilled cheese truck….and apparently so were a ton of other people because when I went to the Chattanooga Market the Sunday before Independence Day the Muenster Truck was by far the most crowded. The line was a mile long and I was hot and hungry so even though I really wanted a grilled cheese, I was not going to stand in that line (regular readers know that I’d rather gouge my eyes than wait in a superlong line or wait for an hour and a half to be seated in a restaurant). Guru, the Muenster Truck owner, emailed me recently and told me that Center Park tends to be a little less crowded than the market, so my plan was to head down there in the next week or two, but this was the perfect opportunity.

I came extremely close to ordering the Angry Bacons sandwich, which contains two of my favorite things: bacon and avocado (in the form of guacamole) but in the end the smoked gouda of the Dragon Ball Cheese won out. Besides, you can’t go wrong with caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms. Philip decided on the Rocket Italian, with provolone, a spring mix, Italian vinaigrette, and tomatoes. Honestly….any of these sounded delicious, because who doesn’t love a grilled cheese (and coincidentally, I’m going to be sharing some grilled cheese recipes with you guys fairly soon)? When Raj, whom I gathered is the manager of the truck, handed us our sandwiches, the first thing that struck me was the smell. It smelled like a grilled cheese. That may sound strange to some of you, but you dyed-in-the-wool grilled cheese lovers (like myself) will know what I’m talking about. Some food purveyors try to be fancy or modern or “healthy” with their grilled cheese/paninis, brushing or spraying them with olive oil instead of cooking them in butter. This was a true butter-grilled sandwich. Heaven help me.

Raj promised that these sandwiches would fill us up, and let me tell you….he wasn’t lying. The sandwiches were very large and assembled on sturdy but not dense white bread. For you health nuts out there, get over it. As much as I’d love to love a grilled cheese on whole wheat-and do make them myself sometimes-I cannot deny that a proper grilled cheese must be made on white bread…it just turns up the comfort food level a couple of notches. There was a good ratio of cheese to toppings, which can be difficult to achieve. The mushrooms and onions on my sandwich were sautéed very well-to the point that they still had some texture but didn’t give that off-putting crunch of pseudo-caramelized onions that haven’t really been caramelized at all. I was only able to eat about 3/4 of my sandwich.

Like my sandwich, Philip’s had a nice ratio of toppings-including tomato, radicchio, and some more delicate greens-to cheese. This is a great sandwich for someone who likes a little crunch on their grilled cheese, but honestly, my favorite feature of the sandwich was the Italian vinaigrette. I have never thought of putting a vinaigrette on a grilled cheese, but I think it provided a perfect balance between the vegetables and the cheese. Delicious.

At $17 (including 2 bags of Miss Vickie’s chips and 2 bottled waters, of course this is a little more expensive than making a grilled cheese at home, but how many of you have all of the aforementioned ingredients to add to your grilled cheese? You should definitely support the Muenster Truck. To find out their hours and locations, you can check out their website: http://themuenstertruckchattanooga.com/www, like them on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter.

After our lunch (which we ate on a barrel inside Chattanooga Brewing Company) we still had a quite a bit of time to kill before my photo appointment. This provided the perfect opportunity to get a little leisurely exercise by walking across the bridge. We circled Bluff View Art District and then ended up back at the bridge with time to kill, so Philip suggested a stop-in at The Ice Cream Show.

The concept at The Ice Cream Show is seemingly simple-you choose your based (soft serve chocolate or vanilla ice cream or yogurt) and your container (waffle cone or cup) then add mix-ins to your liking (they have a sign with suggestions, which I photographed, but my photo was way blurry. Unfortunately (if you’re indecisive like me anyway), the list of mix-ins was pretty long and it took me a minute…but then I saw green mint and all was right with the world. The cashier suggested one of their combinations-green mint, dark chocolate, and Oreos. It sounded pretty good to me, except the Oreos were unnecessary. Green mint & dark chocolate in vanilla ice cream. Yes. Pretty tasty, though I could only eat about half of it (that was a pretty large container of ice cream!). The green mint chips and dark chocolate chips lent the perfect amount of flavor to the vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm. Philip decided on a chocolate malt, which is pretty much his standard ice cream shop order unless he’s just in the mood for a waffle cone. The malt had a good texture, unlike the malts served at some shops that are not well-mixed and have chunks of malt powder throughout, but the malt flavor was not as strong as he would have liked (note-if you like a strong, bitter malt flavor….ask for extra malt!). Still a pretty decent malt, though-definitely better than many he has had.

Normally $13.75 might seem a little steep to me for ice cream, but when you’re sweating bullets in ninety-degree heat on a July day, it seems perfectly reasonable. The Ice Cream Show is definitely conveniently located at the south end of Walnut Street Bridge and I have no doubt that they do a ton of business in the warm weather months. It’s not Nana’s (because in my opinion no one will ever top Nana’s), but it’ll do. The staff was friendly and the service was quick, and they have a good selection and a nice atmosphere for patrons to cool down from the summer heat.

The Ice Cream Show is located at 129 Walnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37403. They are open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. You can call them at 423-702-5173 or check out their website: http://www.theicecreamshow.com/TICS/Welcome.html or follow them on Twitter.

Easy Bistro-July 14, 2013

July 15, 2013

Easy Bistro, an upscale restaurant located in downtown Chattanooga near the Tennessee Aquarium and the Tennessee River, serves amazing brunch!

So Sunday was Philip’s and my twelve-year anniversary! We vacillate between “I can’t believe it’s been twelve years already!” and “It feels like we’ve been married way longer than that (but in a good way)!” Anyway, since it fell on a Sunday, we had to make a choice: go out on our actual anniversary or go out on Saturday so that I could do my usual Sunday morning blog post. Obviously we decided on the former.

We talked a little for a couple of weeks about where we might go for our anniversary but hadn’t really made any solid decisions. It came down between Easy Bistro & Bar and another upscale Chattanooga restaurant that hasn’t been around as long. Since Easy Bistro has been around for so long, I really felt like I needed to go ahead and give them the props and save the other restaurant for my birthday next month. We decided to go for Sunday brunch, which held a few advantages: 1) eliminating the need for me to think of something to make for lunch; 2) less costly; and 3) the brunch menu at Easy Bistro. Oh. My. Goodness.

Easy Bistro & Bar was opened by chef-owner Erik Niel in 2005 as Easy Seafood Bistro and Bar (I’m not sure when they dropped the word “seafood” from the name). Reading some of the articles listed in the news section of the restaurants websites, I found that prior to opening Easy, Niel worked in the kitchens of some of Chattanooga’s other well-known restaurants, including Southside Grille (which gave way to the now-closed Niko’s some years ago) and St. John’s. Philip and I had given Easy Bistro a try before-and liked it-but that was before the inception of Chattavore (2009 maybe? Or 2010? It was for another anniversary, that much I remember.) so it was definitely time to go back, especially since a friend had fairly recently highly recommended that I go back and write a blog post based on her own fantastic filet mignon experience.

We arrived a few minutes early. We have a habit of doing that…we are habitually punctual and we like to park far away. However, if you are not a far-away parker, there is valet parking for $7, which sure is convenient and is offered Thursday through Sunday. In our reservation we had requested a seat by the window (for picture takin’), and a seat by the window we got.

If you haven’t been to Easy Bistro….let me start by saying that it’s gorgeous. The ceilings are impossibly high and the walls are an impossibly shade of dark-black, to be precise. White trim and a cool panel of mirrors with accents of muted colors everywhere scream simple, contemporary, and beautiful (Chef Niel’s wife Amanda-who sat behind me in high school speech class-has a background in design so there you go). The new chevron chairs on the patio? Oh my. This place is a sight.

We were quickly greeted by our server, Christian, who brought us our waters and then asked us if we had any questions about the menu or did we perhaps want to order something from the bakery? Why yes, Christian, yes we do want to order something from the bakery. At only $3 each, we’ll take a cinnamon roll and an order of beignets, to be exact. I. Love. Cinnamon rolls. I can’t believe I haven’t made them for you here, but today got me thinking that I need to start a sweet roll series or something. But this isn’t about me, so I’ll shut up about that…and anyway, after eating this cinnamon roll, I’m not sure that mine will ever measure up. This was far and away the best cinnamon roll I have ever had, slathered with a warm swath of gooey cream cheese icing, somehow managing to be a little crisp on the outside but soft and buttery on the inside. How do you do it, Easy Bistro? How? The beignets (round doughnuts, native to Louisiana, drenched in powdered sugar…and another item I can’t believe I haven’t made for you yet-I’ve got to get cracking!) were just as delicious, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside just as the cinnamon roll was, with a light lemony flavor and not too much powdered sugar (the traditional “way” is to put them in a bag with powdered sugar and shake shake shake, which is delicious but quite messy). We had to stop, though, so we’d have space for our meal, but we had Christian box them up (we are not too proud to bring home our leftovers…those could not be wasted, and I just ate the rest of that cinnamon roll for breakfast).

Besides the bakery items, the brunch menu at Easy Bistro includes starters like yogurt & fruit and a blue cheese tartine (sort of open-faced baguette sandwich), traditional brunch items (steak & eggs, eggs Benedict, omelettes, etc., etc.), a selection of coffees and some “branchy” cocktails (like mimosas and bloody Marys), as well as soups and salads, some sandwiches (braised brisket, a burger), and a few additional entrées like fish tacos, shrimp & grits, and moules frites (mussels & fries). I really considered the fish tacos and briefly thought about the brisket sandwich, but ultimately the decision came down between eggs Benedict and the smoked bacon & mushroom omelette (which came with a salad with champagne vinaigrette). My craving for a good rich Hollandaise won the battle, though, so eggs Benedict it was. And my, what an eggs Benedict! Two oversized English muffin halves (Thomas brand-I asked in hopes that maybe they were made in house), perfectly toasted and topped with lightly browned Canadian bacon, tomato slices, perfectly poached eggs (see the picture of the oozy egg below to see just what a perfectly poached egg looks like), and a beautiful Hollandaise. One bite and I was sold….and then I ate the whole thing. The English muffin was wonderfully crisp around the edges, the Canadian bacon lending a delicious saltiness contrasting with the sharp tang of the Hollandaise, which had a little bit of spice to it, and the tomatoes were a nice touch that added a warm, soft touch to the whole dish. Perfection…wow.

Unlike me, Philip had no real consideration. We had checked out the brunch menu the night before as we made a decision about whether to go for brunch or for dinner, and the eggs Norwegian had caught his eye: toasted English muffin with smoked salmon, a tender lettuce, poached eggs, and Hollandaise. The smoky flavor of the salmon was, like the Canadian bacon, an excellent pairing with the sharp richness of the Hollandaise, the eggs adding a nice oozy bite to the whole thing and the lettuce lent a little bit of crunch. Philip’s dish did not have quite as much Hollandaise as mine but it was still plenty and he too ate the whole thing. We were both surprised at how full we were after finishing our meals, though we weren’t nearly as stuffed as we no doubt would have been had we gone for dinner. For $37 before tip, not too bad.

Easy Bistro was a perfect choice for our anniversary meal. The atmosphere was lovely and the menu flawless. I can’t wait to go back for dinner, perhaps to test that filet that my friend was raving about and definitely to check out the sticky toffee pudding that I saw on the dessert menu. If you are looking for an upscale meal in a beautiful setting with lots of local love (the website provides a list of many local farms with which Chef Niel partners), definitely give Easy Bistro & Bar a try!

Easy Bistro & Bar is located at 203 Broad Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. They are open for dinner Monday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m. and Sunday 5-9 p.m. and for brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. You can call them at 423-255-1121 or email at host@easybistro.com and you can also make reservations on their website, http://easybistro.com. You can “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

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